by PF Louis
(NaturalNews) Researchers at Tuft University in Boston, Massachusetts, conducted a study entitled “Association of vitamin B-6 status with inflammation, oxidative stress, and chronic inflammatory conditions: the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study.”
It was called the Boston Puerto Rican study because the researchers used 1,205 ethnic Puerto Rican elders living in the Boston area who exhibit a higher rate of depression and cognitive impairment as well as hypertension, obesity, and Type II diabetes than non-Hispanic or Hispanic groups.
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Vitamin B6 deficiency has already been loosely associated by observing low B6 concentrations among those with cardiovascular disease (CVD). But the medical field has suspected the resultant higher homocysteine levels as a major factor for CVD.
The Boston researchers noticed DNA oxidative markers remained high from lower B6 concentrations even after homocysteine was neutralized.
So they decided that low vitamin B6 concentrations are associated with inflammation and oxidative stress by lowering glutathione’s protective antioxidant properties. Vitamin B6 is needed to help produce sufficient cysteine as a glutathione precursor.
Glutathione is considered the master antioxidant by many experts. (http://www.naturalnews.com/028570_glutathione_GSH.html)
From their report: “Our data suggest that vitamin B-6 may influence cardiovascular disease risk through mechanisms other than homocysteine and support the notion that nutritional status may influence the health disparities present in this population.” (Emphasis added)
Vitamin B6 and the B-Complex
Vitamin B6 is one of the eight B vitamins of B complex. Each one has an independent but coexisting function. Vitamin B6 or pyridoxine is involved with with metabolizing amino acids and the synthesis of neurotransmitters serotonin and norepinephrine in addition to the sleep hormone melatonin.
Vitamin B6 also helps vitamin B12 produce red blood cells. It also manages to convert non carbohydrate sources, such as proteins and lipids, into glucose for cellular metabolic energy.
Foods high in vitamin B6 and other B vitamins include brewers yeast, bee pollen, bell peppers, mushrooms, turnip greens, summer squash, tuna, cod, turkey or chicken, and all the other cruciferous vegetables, such as kale, broccoli, and cauliflower.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039784_vitamin_B_oxidative_stress_foods.html#ixzz2PaaCn1z3